Accounting Systems for Small Business

Accounting Systems are many and varied; it pays to understand your options. Choosing one of the many accounting systems and putting it in place is crucial to the success of any business. This is especially true for start-ups and small businesses when considering their typical resource constraints of time, people and free cash flow.
Accounting systems can provide valuable information for decision makers ranging from identifying profitable and unprofitable product/service offerings to excessive ... Continue Reading →

Millionaire Day?
Believe it or not, May 20th, 2016 is officially known as Be a Millionaire Day. According to Google, Millionaire Day "honours the desire to enjoy the freedom and self-empowerment associated with being financially secure.” But unless you are lucky enough to be among the roughly 1 in 14 million people who win the lottery in Canada, you have little chance of becoming a millionaire overnight!
Still, financial success is something the majority of us can achieve over time if the ... Continue Reading →

New Beginnings. It’s that time of year. Spring is in the air (although as I write this snow is forecast on the ground!) and there is a sense of renewal. Carl Bard said it well: “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
Financially this is also a time of new beginnings. In Canada, the government's financial year runs from 1st April to 31 March. This year we Canadians have not only started a new fiscal year but also have a ... Continue Reading →

Bigger is Better? If you are a basketball player, bigger is better, most of the time. But in business the maxim "Bigger is better" does not always hold true at all. Although we frequently seem to get the size of a business confused with the success of a business, it just is not true. A smaller business can be more agile than a larger one. It can respond more quickly to changing circumstances . Standards can often be controlled more easily. Employees frequently feel more engaged. Customer or ... Continue Reading →

Straight shooters. That’s a good thing right? A straight shooter has a few meanings. Clearly the first is someone who can shoot straight! This was particularly valuable in the Wild Wild West when you not only had to get your shot in first, but also be accurate. Being fast on the draw and inaccurate did not really open up any long term career prospects as a gunslinger!
The other definition of straight shooters is someone who is both honest and forthright. It goes without saying (hopefully) ... Continue Reading →